005

I’m surprised to find myself in my own bed when I wake up. It’s still dark outside and rain splatters against the window, followed by another crack of lightning. I run a hand through my hair as I sit up and my eyes catch a glimpse of a slip of paper on the nightstand, written in neat penmanship.

Good morning~

You fell asleep on my shoulder, I guess all the talking was boring, huh? (:

Ravi’s letting me stay on his floor, so let’s see meet up again soon, I want to see you. Preferably today since I have nothing to do other than watch Ravi and Rebecca canoodle. It’s so uncomfortable seeing my best friend like this. Come save me. Please. D:

-Ken

    His cry for help makes me chuckle and I pocket his note. Feeling strangely refreshed, I change out of my lounging clothes and head to the bathroom to fix my appearance.

    Before heading up to the Augments floor, I decide to stop by my dad’s office to check up on things. I’m not surprised when I poke my head in to see N programming away on a blinking screen.

 “Hey, Mari,” he tears his eyes away from the computer as I enter, “your dad’s out right now, he’s in the city picking up some new blueprints,”

    I nod and grab a chair, resting my chin in my hand as I try and make sense of what he’s coding.

    “I have no idea how you do this. You’re going to surpass my dad’s position, that’s for sure,”

    N snorts and shakes his head in disbelief. “I’ll admit, I’m good, but I’m not that good.”

    “Shut up, yes you are,”

    He laughs again before turning back to the screen for a split second, hands dancing over the keyboard as he types out a line of code.

    “I have some good news, though,” N say slowly, a smile crossing his lips.

    “Oh?”

    He reaches over behind me and pulls out a tablet. After sweeping past a few images with quick fingers, he holds up the screen for me to see. It’s a bunch of graphs and prototypes and formulas and other gibberish I don’t understand.

    “Uh. N. This doesn’t tell me anything,”

    “Oh, right. Sorry,” N chuckles and adjusts his glasses. He takes a moment to mentally translate the information before speaking again.

    “In short, AIRCE really likes the new software update”

    “The one you helped program?” I ask. I remember N mentioning something along the lines of that before.

    He nods.

    “These are specifically Ravi and Leo’s feedback reports from the last couple days. Not only are their mental and physical capabilities growing exponentially, but they’re actually outperforming their previous baseline scores. This is the best boost we’ve ever seen in Augment training!”

    “Do I hear a promotion?” I press.

    N beams and he honestly looks like the happiest person alive. I throw my arms around his neck and he laughs into my shoulder.

    “That’s great! Congratulations, you deserve it!”

    “This means I’ll have to work harder,” he purses his lips and nods to himself, “I have to show everyone that I’m capable of a higher workload.”

    I roll my eyes with a chuckle and stand to leave, “Remember to ask for more breaks, okay? Take care of yourself and don’t be too hesitant about-”

    “Yes, mother,” N grins with a mock salute and I resist the urge to tackle him.

    “Hey. Just who are you calling mother? I’m younger than you.”

~~

    The Augment floor is quiet when I step out of the elevator, the only sounds the hush of rain and my sneakers against the floor.

    Ravi answers the door and lets me in, murmuring a greeting. Rebecca’s sitting at the kitchen table with Ken. She’s wearing Ravi’s sweatshirt, her knees curled up to her chest, completely relaxed.

    Ken glances over in my direction and stands when he sees me. He makes a face and side-eyes Rebecca, scrunching his face up in discomfort. She doesn’t see him, earning a laugh out of me.

    I pull up a chair next to him and Rebecca pushes me a bowl of cereal. I eat  quietly as the three of us start talking about the noticeable changes between high school and college life.

I rinse my dishes in the sink and the three of us move to the couch. Rebecca settles herself next to Ravi while Ken guides me to the opposite end of the couch.

The four of us chat amongst ourselves as the rain continues to pick up outside. A deafening crack suddenly explodes across the stormy clouds, followed by rolls of thunder. For a second, the entire sky is illuminated with blinding light before a loud hum resonates throughout the entire tower. The lights flicker and dim as the humming recedes and the power cuts out completely, leaving us in darkness.

Immediately, my eyes cut to Ravi when I see his body tense up, muscles coiled like he’s about to spring. His chin tilts back and his mouth falls open in a silent sigh. The rims of his irises flare orange, painting sharp shadows against his cheekbones. He sits completely frozen for a heartbeat as his eyes flash again. I’m the only one that seems to notice what has just happened until he slumps forward, head bowed.

“Ravi?”

He doesn’t answer, eyes still closed as he leans heavily to one side.

“Ravi?”

Ken’s voice is strained with worry and he quickly rushes over to him, shaking his shoulders. Ravi seems to snap out of his trance and he jolts at the touch, his eyes flying open. He glances at our faces and his gaze settles on Ken, still at his side.

“What the are you looking at?”

Ravi’s voice sounds so foreign, like a completely different person. So cold and vulgar.

“What?”

“Get your hands off of me,”

He roughly brushes off Ken and stands.

“Hey, the power’s out,” Rebecca reminds him quietly, “I wouldn’t walk around too much, Ravi, you might-”

She’s cut off as the scraping sound of a chair is heard followed by a low grunt from Ravi as he curses.

My vision has started to adjust to the dark and I can make out the figures of Rebecca and Ken on the far side of the couch.

“Let’s try and find some candles, or something,” I suggest to Rebecca, “maybe some flashlights,”

She nods and slowly makes her way back into the kitchen, careful not to bump into anything.

~~

Ten minutes later, a warm glow is cast throughout the apartment as candlelight fills the room. I had managed to coax a fire out of some logs and newspaper, now crackling and popping with heat in the fireplace. Rebecca is nice enough to bring us extra blankets before she clicks on a flashlight and heads out into the hall to check on Leo, the door shutting behind her.

Ken tosses the blanket over the two of us, and I’m immediately warmed to the core as I pull the wool up to my chin. He seriously radiates heat like a furnace.  

He’s silent, jaw set in a defined line. He pulls out a music player and hands me an earbud, sticking the other one in his own ear and pressing play. The gentle trills of a piano fill my head and I feel Ken relax beside me.

“Helps me take my mind off things,” he says lightly with a laugh.

The two of us sit side by side for a long time, not even when Rebecca returns do either of us move. We clear an entire playlist before the tune fades away, leaving us in comfortable silence.

~~

Hours pass and the power still hasn’t returned, so I decide to crash at Ravi’s for the night. No power means no elevator, and there was no ing way I was going to take the stairs all the way back to my room in the dark. Rebecca has her own room, so Ken and I spread blankets and pillows in front of the windows until we have a comfortable place to relax.

I lay on my stomach, chin resting on my crossed forearms. Ken sits facing me with his back pressed against the glass, a kettle between us.

“I could get used to the habit of you making me tea,” I tease and take a sip. He grins and his eyes flicker to his hands.

“So could I,”

My heart shivers as he catches my gaze at his words. He pauses to rest the back of his head against the glass and he crosses his legs.

“What’re you thinking about right now?” he inquires softly. I glance outside to the violent rain still falling from somber, dark clouds. The wind whistles and howls past the canyon of skyscrapers, shaking the windows ever so slightly.

“I wish this storm would clear up. On really clear, cloudless nights, the stars seem so close because of how high we are. The observatory has the best view in all of Skypeak.”

“You have an observatory here?”

“Yeah. Rebecca and I go up there sometimes to study for Astrology, but she’s better at memorizing constellations than me. Always has been, always will.”

Ken turns to look back outside and I try not to think about how he’s biting his lip in thought, folding his hands in his lap.

“It’s one of my favorite places to be,” I start quietly. Before I know it, the words tumble from my mouth before I can stop them;

“When this storm blows over, I’d love to take you up there,”

My voice flushes out into a soft whisper and I can feel my ears turning pink. Ken looks at me, his chocolate brown eyes glistening with firelight. A delicate smile tugs at the corners of his mouth and the way his lips part slightly to draw in a breath has butterflies dancing in my stomach.

“I’m counting on it,”

Ken must have noticed my sudden shyness since he politely excuses himself to the kitchen to boil more hot water. The pounding in my chest refuses to subside even as he leaves and I ball fistfuls of the blanket between my hands, mentally cursing myself to stop acting so childish.

Deep breaths, deeep breaths

“But tonight,” Ken’s voice murmurs in my ear, completely destroying my mantra, “we’ll have our own observatory,”

    His words have me completely flustered until I realize what he means.

    He has one of Ravi’s extra flashlights in his hands, and he tapes a piece of paper over the top of it, before proceeding to poke holes through the paper with a pencil. Ken clicks on the flashlight and sets it down in front of us, splashing the high ceiling with our very own sky full of stars.

    It’s so unexpected, clever, charming and cute all at the same time that I can’t help but giggle.

    “This’ll have to do for tonight,” he chuckles and pours tea for the two of us.

    “It’s perfect.”

    Our first night under the stars.